


lock-ins are only good team building in theory (or when your name isn’t ushijima wakatoshi)

by greyedscale



Series: ushiten week 2020 [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Autistic Tendou Satori, Autistic Ushijima Wakatoshi, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Kageyama Tobio, Awkward Ushijima Wakatoshi, Claustrophobic Ushijima Wakatoshi, Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Panic Attack, Selectively Mute Tendou Satori, Selectively Mute Ushijima Wakatoshi, Teambuilding, Tendou Satori is a Good Boyfriend, even tho i haven't even read the manga yet lols, except for romero he's a good bean, lock-in, no beta we die like hinata’s middle school volleyball club, satori defends his boyfriend to the death, the schweiden adlers mean well but they're kinda bad at boundaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26104567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyedscale/pseuds/greyedscale
Summary: A lock-in for the team sounds like a good idea, in theory. Except the Schweiden Adlers forgot to account for Wakatoshi’s severe claustrophobia. Satori comes to the rescue, like the good boyfriend he is, and Kageyama attempts to create some familiarity through awkward as hell conversations. All in all, Wakatoshi cannot be more grateful for his boyfriend and new friend.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Kageyama Tobio & Ushijima Wakatoshi, Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi, Ushijima Wakatoshi & Nicollas Romero, Ushijima Wakatoshi & Schweiden Adlers
Series: ushiten week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893910
Comments: 10
Kudos: 271
Collections: Ushiten Week 2020





	lock-ins are only good team building in theory (or when your name isn’t ushijima wakatoshi)

**Author's Note:**

> **[note]** Verbal dialogue will be in English quotation marks (“”), while nonverbal dialogue will be in CJK brackets/Chinese quotation marks (「」)

As much as Wakatoshi acts aloof, Satori knows he is one of the most sensitive people on this side of Tokyo. He just has a hard time expressing the emotions he feels. So, it’s usually up to Satori to be the Ushiwaka translator, not that he minds doing so; Satori loves his boyfriend and loves being the one that understands him the best.

That’s all to say, it is a little-known fact (to all except Satori, that is) that Wakatoshi is deathly afraid of enclosed spaces. It’s part of the reason why agriculture and plants are a special interest of his–because they relate to the open world of nature. Wakatoshi’s claustrophobia had been an open secret among the Shiratorizawa Volleyball Team, each member willingly going out of their way to accommodate their captain. However, Wakatoshi isn’t at Shiratorizawa anymore, and he’s starting over with a new team filled with people he doesn’t know.

So, it’s understandable, really, that when the Schweiden Adler’s coach announces that there is going to be a lock-in for team building in light of the new members–Kageyama and Hoshiumi–well, Wakatoshi freaks out. He almost doesn’t make it to out of the building before he’s dialing Satori’s number, practically gasping into the receiver the moment his red-haired boyfriend picks up.

“Wakkun? Hello? What’s going on?”

Wakatoshi takes a fortifying, deep breath. “Team. Lock-in,” is all he gets out before he’s bent over, trying to catch his breath again.

Wakatoshi isn’t really aware of how long passes or anything Satori could’ve said in the interim, but what he does know is that he blinks and in the next moment, Satori is standing next to him, asking if it’s okay to hug him.

Wakatoshi closes his hands into fists and stacks the left hand on top of the right–Satori and his signal for yes when either of them goes nonverbal.

And Satori is tackling him in a hug, and Wakatoshi is falling into the dry grass that surrounds the building. He smooshes his face into Satori’s sweater, using the barrier to slow down his breathing, even as Satori rubs soothing circles between his shoulder blades. Wakatoshi doesn’t really register the next few moments, and before he’s even really capable of understanding, his breathing has slowed down and the world doesn’t feel like it’s pressing in on him anymore. He lets go of his death grip on the back of Satori’s sweater and raises his hands to press against his eyes (perhaps too hard, but it grounded him) as he always does when he feels bad, but Satori gently takes his hands into his own.

“None of that, Wakkun,” he reminded Wakatoshi that he had promised to try to break that habit.

He taps his left fist against his right twice to show his acknowledgement of the statement.

“So, Wakkun, from what I can tell, the Adlers are having a team lock-in activity, right?”

「Yes.」Wakatoshi signals again.

“Would you be okay with me explaining the situation to your coach? Perhaps asking to either get you out of the lock-in? Or ask if I could join you to help you stay calm,” Satori asks softly.

「Yes. No. Yes.」Wakatoshi signs with his hands.

“So, to confirm: yes to explaining to coach, no to getting out of lock-in, and yes to asking if I can join,” Satori clarifies with a reassuring smile.

「Yes.」

“Alright, Wakkun, do you think you’ll be okay in the car by yourself while I go ask your coach if all the windows are rolled down? Or do you prefer I go later instead? I’m okay with either option,” Satori is quick to reassure.

「Yes.」Shrug.

“Okay, be back in jiffy, Wakkun, feel free to call if you need me back right away!” When either of them is nonverbal, a call basically signified that they wanted to go home and needed no words to elaborate on the situation.

\---

Satori manages to get the coach’s approval but has a last-minute emergency lab meeting the day of the lock-in. So, Wakatoshi reassures his boyfriend that he’ll be alright on his own for the hour the meeting will (hopefully) be limited to.

His harried boyfriend drops him off with a kiss on the cheek, reminding him that he can still call if he needs to and “as much as he looks like a square, Karasuno’s Number Nine would definitely help him if he asked.”

Wakatoshi waits for Satori to leave the parking lot before he starts walking towards the team’s practice gym. He’s startled to see Kageyama staring at him the moment he turns around.

“So,” Kageyama begins awkwardly, blushing over the fact that he technically accidentally eavesdropped, “You’re, uh, dating the Guess Mon-”

“Satori’s not a monster,” Wakatoshi cuts him off.

“Right,” Kageyama continues, even more awkward than before, “Sorry. I thought that what he liked to be called.”

“Do you like to be called King,” Wakatoshi asks, seemingly out of nowhere.

Kageyama bristles. “Fuck no. My teammates gave me that nickname as an insult.”

“Then that answers your question.”

“Oh.”

They continue slowly making their way towards the gym on the concrete sidewalk until Wakatoshi makes an attempt at small talk, “Why did you join the Adlers?”

“They were the strongest team to give me an offer,” Kageyama responds a bit stiffly.

“You don’t seem like Oikawa’s junior at all. You’re much more rational than he is,” Wakatoshi observes.

“I’m better than Oikawa,” Kageyama shoots back.

Wakatoshi just hums. When they reach the door, he sticks his hand out, “Welcome to the team, then, Kageyama Tobio from the Concrete.”

Kageyama smirks, accepting his handshake, and Wakatoshi wonders if making friends is really as easy as this.

\---

When the two players from Miyagi make their way into the gym, it’s to much noise and excitement. Everyone except Hoshuimi is already there, and as a result, all the teammates mob Kageyama at the door, crowding into Wakatoshi’s personal space. He doesn’t really like it, but he promised Satori he’d be okay on his own for an hour, so he just inches his way out of the suffocating crowd and settles his bags down by the bleachers.

“Yo, Waka,” Sokolov greets.

“Either Ushijima or Ushiwaka is fine,” Wakatoshi corrects, “Like I said before, I don’t do nicknames.”

“Isn’t Ushiwaka a nickname though,” Heiwajima pipes up.

“One I was unfortunately unable to shake,” Wakatoshi comments seriously. His teammates, however, seem to take it sarcastically and laugh at his ‘joke.’ He blinks, shifting his eyes to look at Kageyama, who shrugs as if to say, ‘yeah, I don’t know either.’

“So, Ushiwaka,” Sokolov teases, throws his hand over Wakatoshi’s shoulders, which Wakatoshi quickly brushes off, “I heard you pulled some strings with coach to get your boyfriend to come! You can’t spend a single night apart from him?”

Wakatoshi is unsure how to respond to this, but, luckily, Kageyama approaches the group. “Tendou-san is coming as well,” he asks pretending he hadn’t overhead Wakatoshi’s and Satori’s parting conversation earlier.

“Ah, yes, Satori is coming,” Wakatoshi responds, turning to make eye contact with Kageyama, “You should’ve asked Hinata to come too.”

Kageyama shrugs. “He’s still practicing in Brazil. He told me he was going to call sometime to check up though, would you like to say hi then?”

“That would be amendable.”

Their teammates are staring back and forth between the two like they’re the aliens that Oikawa seems so fond of. “Wait, wait, wait,” Heiwajima speaks for the group, “Do you two already know each other?”

“Ah.” They both respond at the same time, Kageyama giving a little nod of his head to signal for his senpai to go ahead.

“We played during our Spring Interhigh preliminaries,” Wakatoshi explains, “He and his boyfriend really surprised me.”

Conversation starts to flow from there, continuing smoothly even when Hoshiumi arrives, and Wakatoshi relaxes minutely but not completely. He doesn’t even realize he’s still on edge until he checks his phone clock for the tenth time only to find only a minute has passed.

“Damn, Ushiwaka,” Hirugami is the one to tease this time, “Miss your boyfriend that much? C’mon let’s join the others; we’re about to play Uno.” Hirugami goes to grab Wakatoshi’s arm, but he flinches back before his captain can make physical contact. Wakatoshi feels trapped, caged, and uncomfortable. He wants more than anything to get the hell out of the gym, but he can’t because (1) they’re locked in and (2) he promised Satori he’d be fine and Wakatoshi _hates_ breaking his promises to Satori.

“Mah,” Romero slings his right arm around Hirugami’s head, giving him a light noogie, “Let’s lay off with the teasing, yeah?” He pulls Hirugami physically towards the other group, nodding to Wakatoshi to let him know he can choose to follow or not. Wakatoshi looks in the direction that his teammates are headed and sees Kageyama staring questioningly at him. He holds the eye contact, and Kageyama eventually breaks it. One game can’t hurt.

So, Wakatoshi joins the team for a few games of Uno…

And before he knows it, Satori is bursting through the door.

“Waaaaakkun,” Satori’s cheering, “I’ve missed you so much, my Miracle Boy!” He wraps his arms around Wakatohi from behind, and Wakatoshi unclenches his jaw, relaxing. The stifling, stale air doesn’t feel quite as oppressive with his boyfriend around.

“Wakkun, Wakkun, convince your teammates to play volleyball with us! It’s been too long since I last blocked,” Satori whines, knowing his loud and childish demeanor puts Wakatoshi at ease. However, before Wakatoshi can respond, Kageyama is standing up.

“Tendou-san, allow me to toss for you as well.” There’s some leftover intimidation in the younger boy’s posture that screams to the Shiratorizawa alumni that he does not want to be on the other end of Satori’s block. It makes Satori cackle.

“Alright, Karasuno’s Number Nine,” the red head agrees.

“I’ve graduated from Karasuno already,” the blue-eyed setter corrects.

Satori fakes wiping away at a tear before dramatically proclaiming, “Wow, they grow up so fast! It’s okay, kouhai, you’ll always be Karasuno’s Number Nine to me.”

“You know what, fine. Whatever, Shiratorizawa’s Number Five,” Kageyama retaliates.

“Romero-san,” Wakatoshi approaches the Brazilian, “Please join our team.”

Soon, Wakatoshi, Satori, Kageyama, and Romero are facing off against Hoshuimi, Sokolov, Hirugami, and Heiwajima in a pick-up game. And if the professional players are surprised at Satori’s scarily accurate blocks and Wakatoshi’s sharper than normal plays–a result of feeling more comfortable with Satori by his side–well, that really served them right for teasing Wakatoshi earlier.

(And, if Satori also starts slamming down the other team’s spikes a little harder than normal after hearing about their earlier teasing from Kageyama, that’s between Satori and his hunches.)

**Author's Note:**

>  **[note]** come scream with my friends and i: [ https://discord.gg/GTNHyNr](https://discord.gg/GTNHyNr)  
> (although the server is mainly for the bnha fandom)


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